If you have questions that are not addressed in either of these two FAQ files, then you're invited to join the appropriate one of my email groups (such as Theistic-Satanists-and-others-2) and ask your questions there.

"Darkness" can mean many different things, not necessarily "evil." When I use the word "dark," I am usually referring to one of the following:

What, for lack of a better term, I call "dark energy." Alas, I have no other words to describe it. The best I can do, by way of describing it, would be to refer you to certain pieces of music that evoke somewhat similar feelings, though to a lesser degree. Examples include Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor (especially the opening "Passacaglia" part) and the "O Fortuna" chorus of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.

All things yet unknown. Satan encourages us to rise to the challenge of exploring unknown realms -- or at least learning about them, one way or another -- rather than shrinking from them out of blind fear.

Things that are unknown because they are forbidden/taboo. Yes, this does mean things that are popularly considered "evil," justifiably or not. As Satanists, we claim the right to at least look at all forbidden things and make our own decisions about them, rather than blindly accepting society's dictates.

The unseen realms, i.e. the spirit world. I think it's good to be frank about the fact that we know very little about the spirit world. I am skeptical of all claims of know-it-all "enlightenment," though some people do know more than others.

The "dark" parts of our minds, i.e. the subconscious mind. Creativity requires one to be in touch with this.

I don't think of any deity as either all-good or all-evil. The Jehovah of the Bible is certainly nasty in many ways, and the religions that worship him have certainly caused various kinds of harm to many people. Yet there are also quite a few people who seem genuinely happy as followers of that "God." Insofar as those people mind their own business and don't try to impose their beliefs or morals on other people by force of law, there's no reason to object.

However, by the very nature of their own belief system, the more hardcore Christians cannot genuinely respect the beliefs of others and still be true to their own beliefs. They believe that they have access to an infallible authority (the Bible). And they believe that all who don't believe as they do are doomed to eternal torment. So, from their own point of view, to "respect the beliefs of others" would be to stand idly by while others rush headlong to disaster.

Furthermore, some hardcore Christians do aim to impose their beliefs and morals on the rest of us by force of law, not just by persuasion. See this collection of links on the religious right wing. Not all hardcore Christians support the Religious Right. Many do not. But hardcore Christians are, obviously, the Religious Right's main target constituency. Thus, the bigger hardcore Christianity itself grows, the bigger also grows the potential pool of Religious Right recruits. And, indeed, hardcore Christianity is growing -- not shrinking, as too many Satanists imagine. See this collection of articles.

Therefore, I do think that counter-evangelism is justified, as a means of helping those who are not happy with hardcore Christianity (or hardcore Islam, or hardcore Judaism) to liberate themselves, and as a means of reducing the potential pool of religious right wing recruits. (Also, on a more personal level, counter-evangelism can be helpful as a means of building rhetorical skill and/or learning to think more logically. And, for recent ex-Christians, ex-Muslims, or ex-ultra-Orthodox Jews, digging into the arguments on both sides can be helpful as a means of reassuring oneself that one has done the right thing by leaving Christianity/Islam/Judaism/whatever.)

Theologically speaking, I consider Christians, etc. to be enemies of my God, Satan, only insofar as they actually believe in Satan as "the Evil One" that must be fought against. And, as a general rule, belief in "the Evil One" has a high correlation with intolerant attitudes toward spiritualities other than one's own.

I personally am not inclined to believe in an afterlife, because I've seen no good evidence of its existence, whereas I've seen plenty of evidence that human consciousness is too dependent of the physical brain to survive even significant damage to the brain, let alone the death of the brain.

I've had deja vu experiences of the kind that some people regard as evidence of reincarnation. However, my deja vu experiences pertain to things that didn't even exist until after I was born.

I'm not dogmatic on the question of the afterlife. I don't claim to have made an exhaustive study of all purported evidence for it.

Unlike me, most theistic Satanists do believe in an afterlife of one kind or another.

An unseen realm which might not literally be located inside the Earth, below the surface, but which, for ritual purposes, I regard as being located there. The English word "Hell" is derived from "Hel", the name of the Norse Goddess of the underworld.

Given the modern Christian meaning of the word "Hell," the use of that word by Satanists is, among other things, a way of facing down our own culturally-induced subconscious fears. To do so makes us stronger.